capacity to take greater action both inside turkey and outside. the point that needs to be made is that the first line of defense against foreign fighters entering syria isn't

that is an important subject for us. in the iranian sense there have been more forward positions. very few advisors come to the u.s.. less than 200 in comparison to 2000 u.s.. >> 200 iranians on the ground. >> the problem is not that -- >> the iranians are on the ground. >> they have different

techniques, experience and so on. to that effect, we could see commonalities. as far as politics are concerned, we have to be careful. by the way yesterday there was a report in belgium talking about support. we do not need the belgian military support, we need political support. we said it we need all parties to help us. we see a common threat, we have a common threat with countries. as much as we can get help to that effect, we have no psychological support. >> i will ask one more question and then turn it over to the audience. one of the main messages that has come from director comey is the messaging campaign, the strength of the propaganda

machine isis has been generating, particularly in recent months. general allen, you've said this cannot be a message that is an american message. unless it are, i'm sure you've been working. what is going on in iraq? was an arab countries in the gul f to combat this. or nongovernmental organizations may have more credibility. mr. faily: the primary message is isis is a cancer within our body, we need to get rid of it. this foreign entity should not hijack the sunni brand or the islamic brand.

it should not be seen as international jihadi tourism. to that effect, i think people do not see what, let me call it -- do not see the trendiness of isis. eric: they don't see it? amb. faily: no. population wise, no. talking about the richness of them, you do not need to be rich to be destructive. they do not maintain a state. salaries, they do not pay that. to that effect, they do have structure. do they hijack the majority, no? do they have a silent majority yes. we need to make them more vocal and the fight against isis. eric: they've got money to burn. there attracting not

just fighters but families being part of a settlement campaign. how do you combat that in a counter messaging standpoint? mr. glaser: my message is we are going to succeed and depriving them of their ability to use resources. i've been at the treasury department for over 15 years and i've spent that time listening to people explain to me that financial measures cannot work. i was there in 2006 when we first started to devise our sanctions strategy. the one thing everybody agreed is the iran sanctions cannot work. now the only thing everybody agrees on is what brought it to the table was the economic and financial pressure. we will succeed in depriving them of their ability to use their resources. eric: general alan, you said

last week that a counter messaging is an uphill battle. as you message seems to resonate with young people who are primed to hear it. how do you counter that? general allen: it is about countering the message and reinforcing norms that work. the aspects of regional societies that create a strength and an ability to be impervious to this message and we are constantly looking for ways to counter the message and strengthen the faith of islam and strengthen regional norms. we do that by talking with our regional partners. for example, within the middle east. you will hang king abdulla from

jordan talk about it regularly. we must take back our faith, which i think we agree with him on. he has been very clear that saying in the middle east, the counter messaging must have an arab face and a muslim voice. when i have spoken to leaders in southeast asia they are concerned about the potential for the spread of violent extremism and groups destabilizing over the long-term. we will see, just as recently was opened a counter operations strategy. we are looking for them in other places as well. so we can create a network of messaging centers we can energize quickly.

eric: none of that has relevance unless you deal defeats to isis on the ground. you've got to create the perception isis is losing before anybody will listen. gen. allen: isis is willing. when you listen to their communications, they have problems with more out. not long after they killed captain kasasbeh, many disagreed. they were killed. during the time of kobane, there was a moment when everybody said we were going to lose that -- if you listen to the telephone they were terrified about inc. sent to kobane, being killed by

defenders or killed by coalition air. activities along the border in syria has rendered clear messages, many places within the daesh infrastructure where morales not good. -- where morale is not good. eric: really click from the ambassador. amb. faily: in relation to mainstream islam, it is losing the battle. in a sense of messaging, that is an issue we all have to to make sure vulnerable people are not attracted. that's a global effort. the other aspect of it, in the sense of iraq, that is more manageable and there is a

coalition focus. in syria the brand of isis will not diminish. eric: i'm going to turn it over to questions from you. identify yourself. right on here. >> thank you. chris with cbs news. question for general allen. can you describe whether the discussions with the turkish government, prime minister erdogan, about the possibility of instituting some kind of air exclusion zone in northern syria. the turks have asked for that and would like to see some kind of regime by our air assets in the north. was that in any way part of the

discussion to obtain the use of incirlik? gen. allen: no. it is not part of the conversation. >> not part of the discussion at all. >> thank you. > hi, mike with joshua news." for mr. glaser. conflicting reports after the iran deal was signed that general soleimani was ready to have sanctions lifted. was he in line to have been lifted? was your office consulted before his name was put on the list? mr. glaser: i'm not here to talk about the details of the nuclear negotiations with iran. as a general matter, as everyone knows, the nuclear-related sanctions will be lifted at the time that iran's compliance with

the agreement has been verified. with respect to details, i would have to get back to you. >> is he on what list? mr. glaser: general soleimani to extent that he's involved with terrorist activities, he would remain sanctions. to the extent that the sanctions are related to the nuclear program, the sanctions will be lifted. those sanctions will be lifted when iran's compliance with the agreement is verified. >> a question to the ambassador

-- what is iraq, is it sunni shiite, or a group of nationalists? banding together to form a new country. where is that going from here? how do you see it today? amb. faily: this is geopolitics or history? [laughter] eric: you got two minutes. amb. faily: i'm kurd and shia. where do you put me? i think iraq has evolved as a country. based on democracy liberalism, market economy and so on previous to the 60 years of dictatorship police state. we are at evolving country in the sense of a new project

social contract between the communities. how do we form or are we moving forward? i think it is still ongoing. it is up to our communities how much we want to have what we call interdependencies to strengthen. not just the issue of identity the issue of the country. it faces challenges, it is up to iraqis to do something about this. international support is required. the change that has taken place after the arab spring across all regions, to that effect it is in our hands what we can do about it. the country has got an identity to define the identity moving forward.

>> zdf german tv. some european countries are trying a new approach. denmark is focusing on foreign fighters returning to a country. trying to find those who might be disillusioned and acting against daesh. that is a strong and powerful message as we saw last week. this has nothing to do with islam, this is pure slaughter of women and children. i was wondering is that an approach that we should pursue in the future. gen. allen: it is and it is something we have spent time looking at. when foreign fighters come home, and they are going to come home one way or the other. how we deal with them is going to be very important. the idea of a single sanction solution, long-term detention or

imprisonment, is probably not going to deliver us where we want to be. what we have discovered, denmark is a leader in this area. there are other european states that have as well. saudi arabia with the bin nayyef center has been a leader. the country i spent a good bit of time studying of late has been singapore. one of the key members of the coalition. they have an active de- radicalization program for foreign fighters, with the intention ultimately of not permitting long-term detention or imprisonment to be the single sanction outcome of someone returning. the reason for that is if you view the dealing with foreign fighters in a circular rather than linear way dealing with foreign fighters begins at the point of radicalization. whether it is social media or the imam or the family, you could have a very powerful effect upon that moment of radicalization by recruiting the

foreign fighters, de- radicalizing them, reintegrating them so that their voices are prominent at the front end the two most important voices we've heard in this process and something we are watching very closely and encouraging states to adapt in their way the rehabilitation process has been before in fighter who was disillusioned, was able to get home and tell the horror -- this is not a utopia, this is a nightmare being part of daesh. the rehabilitative foreign fighter voices powerful. the other voice powerful in impeding or preventing radicalization is the mother of someone who has given up to be a foreign fighter. they've lost contact with them or they have been killed. or they have come back and they are in long-term detention.

those two factors are very important in de-radicalization and preventative measures. >> in yellow? >> dina from national public radio. following on the question and your point about more outcome a couple months ago we heard isis had decreed truck drivers were not to pick up fighters along the road because they were concerned that lost people were deserting. are you seeing any uptick in desertion from fighters there? mr. glaser: -- gen. allen: we are. reporting is sketchy. but the sense of disillusionment with the reason that they came to begin with, the sense of being empowered from wherever

their point of origin was, the sense of joining a holy cause to support the so-called caliphate is often dispelled very quickly. so we have heard about desertions. we've heard foreign fighters who talk about disaffection in ranks. we've heard a significant report about daesh summarily executing elements of the foreign fighter community that display any willingness to take a path apart from the caliph, the caliphate or daesh internal regulations. the sense that they are a monolith, juggernaut inevitable , all of that is far from the truth. it is nowhere near the truth. eric: right here in the middle. >> gavin.

it seems this is mostly about hearts and minds. this is mainly a military operation. to what extent has or should our government be trying to win the hearts and minds, for example what is going on in the middle east is the perfect example of why there should be separation of mosque and state. the fact that shia and sunnis are fighting within egypt, every country proves the point that the mixture of religion and statehood is a really bad idea. eric: can you get to your question? >> sure. billions are spent on the military for public diplomacy.

could you comment on what you think should be done in that area? amb. faily: there is a military side in the sense of not giving isis or daesh breathing space and the ability to be in control on the offensive. to that effect, iraq, syria and other areas require international focus on the military side. daesh has its own destruction. until that moment, the trail of destruction in relation to cities, identity, heritage and culture, that of the threat. is not that daesh will flourish it has its own destruction. but it will take a lot of damage with itself. as far as trying to contain the problem was in the middle east, what you see in libya has nothing to do with sunni versus

shia, it is internal. what you see with the jihadists who go to france, that is not sunni-shia. it is more disillusionment which we need to focus on. to that effect, the u.s. should not lead the anti-islamic message. it needs to precipitate and bring parties together in islamic countries. scholars, whether it is in egypt najaf saudi arabia or others. i do not think you can separate the church from the state or the mosque in our region. they are too deeply rooted. it will be a futile project to work on that. for states to have roll -- rule of law, understanding the nationstate concept, that's a

clear message we have to work on. that is our obligation. eric: great note to end on. i want to thank the panelists and the audience for great questions. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> on the next "washington journal," your phone calls and reaction to the republican presidential candidates debate. after that tom file and pilip bump discuss demographics of voter turnout since the late 1970's. plus, facebook comments and tweets on "washington journal," 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span.

later, a briefing on medicaid and housing policy. the first in a three-part series exploring the intersection of health and social policy. following new york city mayor bill de blasio recent 22 million dollar initiative on mental health and homelessness. held by the alliance for health reform. it starts at noon eastern on c-span. >> when the senate takes it's on its -- august break, we will feature book tv on c-span2 beginning at 8:00 eastern. at the end of the summer, look for special programs. saturday, september 5, live for the national book festival. followed on sunday with our in-depth program of former second lady and senior fellow at the american enterprise institute, lynn cheney. television for serious readers.

>> mitch mcconnell held a news conference at the capitol. he discussed a range of issues, including the iran nuclear agreement and how to avoid a government shutdown in september. this is half an hour. >> good morning. the day after the election, the american people expressed their opinions. there were two things on their mind. the president was not very popular. we talked about the issue of dysfunction. the sense that nothing ever gets accomplished here. too casual observers, they were not sure where the dysfunction was to you worked around here, you knew it was in the senate.

the senate was basically shut down for literally eight years. how you measure dysfunction? one way is you vote on amendments. we had 15 roll call votes on amendments in all of 2014. so far this year over 160 in the first half of the year -- in four of the last five years, the senate did not pass a budget. the law requires us to pass a budget every year. we've done that. that is not enough. my goal, looking at the government who gave us a divided government, we've had a divided government more often than not since world war ii. what are the american people saying? why don't you look for things you can agree on and try to make progress for the country.

and so, what i have tried to do is emphasize things upon which there was some bipartisan agreement and bills that were big enough to be worth doing. we led off with the keystone pipeline, and although the most important democrat in the country did not sign it, it passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority. we passed a budget. that is not a bipartisan exercise, and it was not this year, but we have also done the iran nuclear review act, a rewrite of no child left behind, a multiyear highway bill. clearly, the senate is up and running and trying to focus on things where we can make progress. what is not helpful is rhetoric like the president has been using as recently as this morning, comparing republicans in congress who have legitimate concerns over the iran nuclear agreement to those in tehran yelling "death to america." my view of this is, rather than

this kind of crass political rhetoric, we ought to treat this issue with the dignity it deserves. what i have said to the senate is we will handle this debate in the following way. we will try to reach an agreement to have a specified amount of time to talk about it. i will ask every senator to be at their desk, actually listening to what others are saying. each senator will get an opportunity to speak and be listened to by other senators. this is an extraordinarily important issue for our country, not only now, but in the future. remember, the president will be gone in a year and a half, and the rest of us will be living with the consequences of this extraordinary agreement, which certainly has transformed the middle east. it certainly has.

we are now entering into an agreement in which we are basically being asked to trust the biggest funder of terrorism in the world today, so it is appropriate to have some skepticism about the debate of this magnitude. regardless of how the president talks about it, regardless of what his incendiary rhetoric is, we are going to deal with this in a respectful way, dealing with the facts surrounding the issue, and treat it with the dignity and respect that it deserves here in the senate. with that, i will be happy to throw it open to what you would like to talk about. yeah. reporter: another thing you said right after you got reelected when you came back in january is we are going to avoid government

shutdown. you repeated that yesterday. senator mcconnell: we're not doing government shutdowns or threatening to default on the national debt. reporter: there has been a debate on planned parenthood, many of those in your own party, many of whom who have challenged you, saying very loudly that the only way for that bill to go forward is to defund planned parenthood. that's a rider. senator mcconnell: you may have heard me before. one of my favorite kentucky sayings is there is no education like the second kick of a mule. we've been down this path before. this is a tactic that has been tried going back to the 1990's -- frequently by republican majorities have always had a same ending. the focus is that the government is shut down, not looking at the underlying issue that is being protested. look, what planned parenthood is engaged is in truly outrageous. the videos are beyond disturbing.

the question is, what is the best way to go forward. we had an opportunity monday of this week to put senators on record about how they felt on going forward with a bill that would have taken that funding currently going to planned parenthood and used it for women's health, not a penny less, under the proposal that the senators were proposing. and that presumably would have gone to community health centers. in my state, there are 134 community health centers and 2 planned parenthood clinics. not a penny less for women's health, but spent in a way that actually is consistent with the law. any water back here? anybody? so, senator grassley is going to be investigating. as you know, he has a record as a very thorough and tough

investigator, the author of the whistleblower law. we intend to continue to pursue the facts, and nobody is better at doing that than senator grassley, and we will look for other opportunities to make our voices heard on planned parenthood. reporter: senator, i'm wondering what you expect from the pope's visit here in september. i am wondering if you would welcome any comments from him given the dispute over planned parenthood. senator mcconnell: gosh, i do not know what his address will be, but we are honored to have him at the capitol. we have more requests for his appearance than anything i can recall. it's a big event. i have no idea what he will say, but we are happy to have him. i will come to you next. reporter: today is the 50th anniversary of the signing of

the voting rights act. a lot of democrats feel that the 2013 supreme court ruling gutted some of the main protections of the act. do you feel the voting rights act needs to be updated or fixed, and, if so, what will happen? any parting words for jon stewart or any advice for the candidates against trump tonight? senator mcconnell: regarding the voting rights act, i was actually here that day. i hade been an intern for a senator in 1964 who was involved in breaking the filibuster on the civil rights bill in 1964. i made friends, like a lot of interns do. i came back the next summer to visit him, and just happened to be here on this day 50 years ago. i was waiting in his outer office in hopes of talking to him for a few minutes. he walked out and said i have something important you should see.

he brought me over here to the rotunda, and i actually stood in the back of the room and watched lyndon johnson sign the voting rights act of 1965. it's been a big success. the supreme court did not strike down the voting rights act. racial discrimination in voting remains the law of the land. i think it's also important to understand how different the south is now. haley barbour, who used to be governor of mississippi, pointed out there are more african-american elected officials in mississippi than any other state in america. america has come a long way, and the voting rights act is intact. it was not struck down. you were next. reporter: did you want -- senator mcconnell: i am sorry that is all i have to say. you are next. reporter: i have a question

regarding the international treaties. backed by your fellow kentucky senator, rand paul. what are you planning to make him change his mind? senator mcconnell: candidly, i have not given a moment's thought about that, and we have a lot of things going on, and i do not know how. reporter: immigration will be a big topic tonight. it was at tuesday's forum in new hampshire. what is your thought about chances for any bipartisan immigration reform in congress before the next election? senator mcconnell: not in this congress. i think when the president took the action he did after the 2014 election, he made it impossible for us to go forward with immigration reform in this congress. the concern we expressed about that was validated by the fact that he is currently under a court order not to go forward with what he decided to do.

and so the atmosphere for dealing with that issue in the wake of what he did is not appropriate to get the kind of immigration reform we probably need to address. hopefully in the next congress -- where we will for sure have a different president. reporter: you said no defaulting on the debt. you have also said earlier that this would be a good chance to seek some sort of concession. will you be keeping it dollar for dollar on spending increase? senator mcconnell: this will create a discussion and negotiation. that is what we do here. and both of these issues will generate a discussion about spending in the fall. i am not opposed to negotiation. i would remind you, when i was the leader of the minority, joe biden and i did three deals together, so we will try to figure out the way forward, and each side will have to give some things they do not want to give, and we will get to an agreement.

reporter: on iran, the president's national security advisor said yesterday that he was very confident congress would uphold the president's veto. senator mcconnell: i don't want to handicap the outcome. this is a really big issue, as i said earlier. we intend to debate this with dignity and respect, and we will see. the president strikes me, at least so far, as treating this like a political campaign, demonize your opponents, gin up the base, get the democrats all angry, and rally around the president.

to me, it is a different kind of an issue. this is not your typical political debate. this is an enormous national security debate. that the president will leave behind under the constitution in a year and a half from now and the rest of us will be dealing with the consequences of it. i wish he would tone down the rhetoric, and let's talk about the facts. i can't handicap the outcome but i think my members are going to delve into the details and make a decision based upon what they think is in the best long-term interest of our country. reporter: do you see the senate taking other votes or action in september? senator mcconnell: this has been an incredibly productive first six months of the new majority. for americans who are paying attention, there was a difference between this majority and the last.

we will continue to look for things that we can make progress on. let me give you some examples. i would love to finish cyber security this week, but we have now an agreement that will allow us to finish it in september. highways, trade promotion authority, rewrite of no child left behind, defense authorization, justice for victims of trafficking, the doc fix. we have been wrestling with that for 17 years -- fixed. this is going to be an extraordinarily productive congress, and even though we are in the negotiations we are discussing over here, much of that will not take floor time. we will move things like cyber security. the tosca legislation is another example of something important that enjoys bipartisan support. and i'm going to continue to look for things that make a difference for the country that can clear the senate, a body

that requires 60 votes to do most things. reporter: leader mcconnell you've spoken a lot about how the bca cut spending for the first time since the 1950's. as you know, democrats will only agree to move these appropriation bills if you work on the nondefense side. what sort of concessions will they have to make? is it mandatory spending cuts? it seems like this is something that is pretty important to you. senator mcconnell: it won't surprise you to know -- i can't enter into the negotiation pursuing all of the hypotheticals. what i can say is we will talk about this. we have divided government. we have to talk with each other and figure out the way forward. reporter: senator ted cruz has been somewhat of a thorn in your side when it comes to these bigger negotiations, bigger issues. how do you plan on dealing with him when it comes to government funding, the debt ceiling, when he said he will use everything

possible to get at his specific priorities? senator mcconnell: for any of our members, there are a lot of procedural tools available to slow things down, and they have been used frequently. we have worked our way through every one of them. we worked our way through it on the highway bill, on the justice for victims of trafficking bill. it is easy for any senator to make it more difficult to pass bills. it's routine around here, which is why the senate doesn't do things as quickly as the house but we been able to surmount those kinds of challenges all year your long that have been thrown out by one senator or another, on one side or another, and we still have an extraordinary record of accomplishment. we have a lot more left to do. reporter: on the issue of budget reconciliation, are you considering letting the senate consider and pass a budget reconciliation bill that would be put together and passed by the house, as opposed to the

senate putting together its own reconciliation bill? senator mcconnell: the use of reconciliation is an active discussion by the senate, and you know that anything done through reconciliation is like to be a republicans-only exercise, and unlikely to be signed by the president. so, we are looking at ways in which we would deploy budget reconciliation in a way that he might not agree with, but it is still important to us. the biggest candidate for that -- not surprising to you -- would be to try to repeal as much of obamacare as is reconcilable. the entire law, we believe based on discussions of the parliamentarian, is not reconcilable, but much of it is. so, if you are looking for

candidates for the reconciliation process, i would put that one on the top the list. reporter: when do you expect to see tangible movement towards customs reauthorization? one quick follow up, do you think that debate on that legislation could threaten congressional reception of the broader trade agenda? particularly the trans-pacific partnership. senator mcconnell: i do not think so. we have two bills in conference that i expect to get out of conference here sometime soon, defense authorization and customs. so, i do not think so. however, on the trade issue, we are watching carefully what is going on in the negotiation of the tpp, and we have given the president an extraordinary grant of authority, which i enthusiastically am in favor of, not only for him, but for the next president as well, since it is a six-year bill, but we are certainly interested in what

comes out of it. i would remind the president and this administration that, given the politics of trade on the democratic side, they will need virtually all republicans to pass whatever they do negotiate, and many of us are taking the opportunity to convey that to them. so, we will see. reporter: any timeline on customs? senator mcconnell: as soon as they finish. reporter: ok, thank you. senator mcconnell: you. reporter: oh, thank you. regardless of what procedural tactic senator cruz and others pursue, do you think you have the votes today to pass a bill to fund the government past september without language defunding planned parenthood? senator mcconnell: you all keep trying, don't you? [laughter] senator mcconnell: i don't blame you. it's your job. yeah, we will fund the government.

i cannot tell you what will finally end up in or out of any government funding resolution. i can tell you there will be no government shutdown. reporter: you told us recently you would like to see abortion legislation on the floor. there is not a lot of time left, and there is a lot of must-pass legislation. do you expect to see that by the end of the year? do you think you can get that through with 54 members? senator mcconnell: as we know, it takes 60 votes to do everything except the budget process. we anticipate having a vote to proceed to the 20-week pain-capable bill sometime by the end of the year as well. reporter: on iran, could you respond to the president's contention, which he doubled down on yesterday, that the alternative around this is war if congress rejects the deal? senator mcconnell: that is an

absurd argument and one he made from the beginning, that it is what the president negotiates or it is war. that's never been the alternative. let me suggest that, had the president and his team spent as much time trying to ratchet up the sanctions on the iranians over the last two years as they have entering into an agreement, which most of us are highly skeptical of, as to having any positive impact at all, we would have ended up in a better place. but it's not this deal versus war. that's the argument they've been making during this whole negotiation. it's either this deal or a better deal, or more sanctions. i think that's been a huge mistake on his part. i mean, he is gambling that this is going to completely transform the middle east. it probably will.

you've got sunni-arab allies who, except for their public statements, are scared to death that america is no longer a dependable ally. you've got the israeli government overwhelmingly opposed to the agreement. it has the potential to transform the middle east, all right, but it strikes me not into a safer middle east, but one more racked with discord. and, you know, i think jimmy carter summed it up best. i can't recall ever quoting jimmy carter in my political career. we can probably stipulate that has not been routine on my part. you may have seen what he said three or four weeks ago about the president's foreign-policy. i'm paraphrasing him, but i'm totally accurate. jimmy carter said he could not think of a single place in the world where we were better off today than we were when the president took office. that is jimmy carter. i rest my case. reporter: it sounds like you

view this negotiation in the fall as sort of a global negotiation involving appropriations, debt limit, tax extenders, highway, with only a limited number of offsets. to do some of the things in those areas. do you view it as one sort of big, global negotiation in which the democrats might do better on one facet of it and you would do better on another? secondly, would you characterize any discussions you have had with the white house as well as laying the framework? senator mcconnell: let me tell you how we ended up where we are. for the first time in six years, the senate appropriations committee reported all 12 bills. for the first time in six years. the democrats quite publicly have said we will not pass any of them, even though a number of

democrats voted for those bills in committee, because we want to ball the process up and force you into a negotiation in the fall. so, that is how we got to where we are. excuse me a second. i would have devoted weeks to passing appropriation bills, had we been able to bring them up. they wouldn't even allow us to proceed to the bills. so, they want to force the negotiation that we will inevitably have, and they wanted to force it sooner rather than later. my view was we had other business to do, and i listed repeatedly the things we've been doing to try to improve our country. so, yeah, we will have a discussion in the fall. they forced it, and we will have it, but i can't handicap the outcome.

reporter: your former campaign manager was indicted yesterday. knowing what you know now do you have regrets about employing him? senator mcconnell: we put out a statement yesterday about that and i will refer you to that. reporter: leader mcconnell, i was curious, do you plan to watch the debate tonight? senator mcconnell: i do. reporter: what are you looking for? senator mcconnell: i am hoping to see a two-hour debate. it should be a lot of fun. reporter: about the highway bill, you talked about conference. in the fall, trying to pass a long-term bill. i know the current goal is to do international tax reform. if they are able to pass a bill like that, is it something that can be resolved in conference? it does not seem like there is a lot of middle ground. senator mcconnell: let me tell you how i look at it. two separate issues. two separate issues.

senator boxer and i put together a multiyear highway bill and passed it. the speaker has asked the chairman to come up with a multi-year highway bill and pay for it and pass it in september and go to conference with us. that is one issue. a separate issue is the issue of tax reform, and there's been a lot of focus on the territorial -- going to a territorial system. i might well be enthusiastic about that, but i view it as a totally separate track unrelated to the highway issue. reporter: the second part of the question was, do you see extenders getting wrapped up in the highway debate? senator mcconnell: you are getting back to the multiple things we are going to be

talking about this fall. i do not blame you for bringing it up, but i do not know the answer. we will do an extender package. i hope we do not do it at the end of the year like we did last year, because then taxpayers have to go through the tax year not knowing the tax implications of decisions they are making and then you drop the extender package on them to cover the year you have just been in. i do not like that. hopefully we will not do that. have you already had one? reporter: nope. senator mcconnell: you're up. reporter: speaker boehner has said on tough issues this year, the house had done what the house can pass and the senate has done what they can do. is the approach going to work when it comes to raising the debt ceiling? do you think enough republican's understand to get a bill through

the senate? senator mcconnell: all of your questions on this type of thing are good, but we do not know the answer to them. i can only say that we have divided government. the house and senate do not always see things exactly the same. i'm reminded of that old story that tom foley, the former speaker, used to tell, that i'm sure some of you heard. he was asked by some of his young members, who is the opposition? he said, well, the opposition, that the republicans, but the enemy, that's the senate. there are always institutional differences. i think the speaker and i have worked very hard to minimize those and have had a very open and respectful relationship, which we intend to continue. but, sure, there are going to be challenges. any time you ball up the appropriations process, like the minority did in the senate this year, it creates the big negotiation. and that is regretful, but that's where we are.

reporter: leader mcconnell, you have already addressed this on the past couple of days, president obama on iran. but i want to talk about the message with which it was conveyed yesterday. he responded directly to you on twitter. do you have any thoughts about him using that method of communication to make his point, that republicans who oppose the deal are edging towards war? senator mcconnell: i think the president ought to treat this like a serious national security debate, rather than a political campaign, and tone down the rhetoric and talk about the facts. i think that would be beneficial for all of us. regardless of what rhetoric he uses, that's how i choose to try to conduct this debate in the senate, and i assure you that's what we're going to do. thanks a lot, everybody.

announcer: later today, a briefing on medicaid and housing policy. the first in a three-part series exploring the intersection of health and social policy following new york city mayor deblasio's recent $22 million initiative on mental health and homelessness. starts at noon eastern on c-span. "washington journal" starts in a few moments. we will take your phone calls and reaction to last night's presidential debate. thom file and philip bump

discuss voter turnout and demographics from presidential elections since the late 1970's. plus, facebook comments and tweets. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: some of the words being used to describe last night's republican debate, spicy raucous, carnival atmosphere and one headline says reality comes to the best reality tv comes to the republican stage. here are the numbers to call. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002.